Re: Hearing aid owner dissatisfaction

["Richard H." <auditory@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> The anecdotes I hear are that users wouldn't mind wearing a Walkman-style
headset and belt-mounted processor if the hearing aid actually provided
sufficient benefit.

>From the patients that I have seen during my training, vanity / cosmetics is a BIG factor.
At  75 or so, the technology means relatively little to most of them.

Persuading old people who want "one of those invisible ones that fit in the ear" that their dexterity isn't adequate and/or that
only a BTE can provide the power / features they need is hard enough ... and modern BTEs are relatively concealable.

I wouldn't like to try recommending a body worn aid ... that's what their image of hearing aids is all about ... "Grandma had a big
ugly box on a wire which always whistled"

Also the features available in top aid aids are pretty sophisticated nowadays despite their small size!

>> We seem to have overcome the social stigma of eyeglasses (arguably because they work!).
Glasses can recover almost 100% of vision - hearing aids often can't recover 100% of hearing. In the former case the wearer is seen
as "normal" but in the latter the patient is seen as "disabled".

regards,

Richard [trainee audiologist]


----- Original Message -----
From: "Maher, Rob" <rmaher@ECE.MONTANA.EDU>
To: <AUDITORY@LISTS.MCGILL.CA>
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 11:56 PM
Subject: Re: Hearing aid owner dissatisfaction


> After seeing that (1) and (2) are related to hearing aid performance, I
> wonder if there has been any research comparing the  true potential
> available benefit from a high performance signal processing system vs. the
> market-driven low-power BTE and ITE hearing instruments.
>
> Specifically, I have a hunch that better performance might be available
> using off-the-shelf signal processing elements rather than trying to make
> everything fit in a thimble and run on 1.2V.  The user might then be able to
> tune the device using training sessions on a PC.  Are there laboratory
> research systems that give users more benefit than what is available on the
> market?
>
> The anecdotes I hear are that users wouldn't mind wearing a Walkman-style
> headset and belt-mounted processor if the hearing aid actually provided
> sufficient benefit.  The tacit reason users want hidden devices is that they
> don't really work too well and therefore people are embarrassed to be seen
> as "impaired".  We seem to have overcome the social stigma of eyeglasses
> (arguably because they work!).
>
> Rob Maher
> Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
> Montana State University-Bozeman
> rob.maher@montana.edu
>
>
> Brent Edwards wrote:
> > From an article published in 2000 on the hearing aid in the drawer
> > phenomenon, the top 20 reasons why hearing aid owners don't use their
> > hearing aids are:
> >
> > 1. Poor benefit
> > 2. Background noise/noisy situations
> ...


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